YouTube Phone Companion, Q2 Streaming Stats, Twitch Edit Captions + ZEVENT Raises 32M!
Happy Labour Day and welcome to this week's newsletter! This week, Streamlabs (brand partner) released its Q2 Streaming Stats, which, for the first time, include data on YouTube Live (not just YouTube Gaming). That gives us a good look at something I've been covering on stream for a while: gaming content is struggling. On YouTube, the Gaming side had nearly 20% fewer watch hours than last year, while the general Live category saw watch hours increase. This trend is also playing out on Twitch, where gaming content has been in general decline for years now, while non-gaming categories (like Just Chatting, IRL) are seeing reliable growth (or at least holding steady). Perhaps it's a reflection of the state of the gaming industry; ~50,000 have been laid off since 2022. Either way, it's a really important trend to keep an eye on! With that though, let's get into the news!
Today is the final day to take advantage of this Streamlabs Ultra deal. Get 26% off an annual subscription using code BTS26! This deal stacks with the existing annual sub discount! I've been using Ultra for a couple of years now (partly for their podcasting tool, Talk Studio), and I believe it can be very valuable to your career!
🟪 TWITCH
- Personalized Checkout Messages are being tested, allowing creators to add a 150-character message that shows up during checkout.
- Twitch launched GIFs for Tier 2 and Tier 3 Subscribers. The email system that warns users if it's turned off is quite the choice...
- You can now edit the Captions on Twitch Clips.
- Hold Links for Review is now available to creators.
- I shared year-over-year data for August. Will this start a new positive trend, or did the botters just catch up?
- DJs now have access to Clips on their channels. However, the content cannot contain any copyrighted music, and only streamers and mods can create the clips.
- Twitch partnered with a GTA RP server to launch a paid chat badge, themed emotes, and other perks.
- Twitch experienced a couple of periods of downtime this week.
- New Streaming Badges: DJ Content (4 Hours)
- New Watch Time Badges: MOOtivation, Wardogs, ZEVENT 2026
- New Paid Badges: Elden Ring, GTA V, Lego Batman, Onimusha, Subtember 2026, Wardogs.
- CommanderRoot Twitchcon recurring buyers stats: only 10% have attended more than 2 cons.
🟥 YOUTUBE
- Your phone can now act as a remote and second screen when watching YouTube on TV.
- YouTube is expanding the Watch With experiment, which allows users on mobile to restream and react to other live creators. Creators can opt out of being reactable.
- YouTube is cracking down on Ghost Creators (Fiverr users paid to read ragebait political news) after a Semafor report. I suspect this is only going to get worse...
- YouTube experimented with larger desktop thumbnails, and says they drove more engagement. You can see an example of them here.
- YouTube will soon automatically detect undisclosed brand deals and will label them properly.
- New data from Agentio says the change to YouTube views inflated counts by around 40%.
⬛ TIKTOK
- TikTok is adding the ability to add 60-second voice comments in post replies.
- TikTok is starting to roll out a new profile UI.
🟦 OTHER PLATFORMS
- Kick has launched a new multi-viewing experience that lets you watch up to four streams. It's currently limited to one GTA RP server.
- Kick is the only streaming platform that grew in both creators and viewers in Q2 2026. However, the viewer ratio is in decline. Full report here.
- WhatNot and TikTok Shop are growing significantly in the USA.
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